Love and War
by MangekyoChidori2089
Summary: Takes place 10 years after part 2. Tension is rising and the leaf village is on the brink of war. Is Konoha safe with the two strongest ninja of Konoha, Sasuke and Naruto, away on an important mission to stop it? Rated for spoilers, violence, and language
1. Prologue

**Love and War**

Disclaimer: I am not a genius and therefore do not own Naruto nor any of its characters.

**Prologue **

**10 Years Earlier**

_Sasuke watched from a distance away amazed with what he had seen Naruto do. He had actually managed to kill the Akatsuki leader, all six body doubles. But at what price?_

_A loud, animalistic roar exploded from Naruto's mouth, or whatever he was now. Bubbling chakra surged all around him turning a deep, blood red and took the distinct shape of a fox around the ninja. Sasuke knew this was the same power used to fight him three years ago at the Valley of the End, Kyuubi's power. But now, it was a lot different. Now the chakra was more abundant, more powerful, and more sinister as he could sense Kyuubi's presence grow stronger as more tails formed._

_There was five tails already, with a sixth one growing and increasing the amount of chakra surrounding Naruto. The massive amount of energy started to have and affect on the surrounding area. The earth crumbled underneath him and trees burst into flames._

"_We've all got to get the hell out of here!" Sasuke looked to the voice and saw Kiba yelling at everyone watching the horrifying monster Naruto was becoming._

"_But what about Naruto-kun?" half asking and half yelling Hinata in desperation. She feared what was happening to her crush and tried to run closer to him. Kiba and Shino stopped Hinata grabbing both of her arms and didn't allow her to take a step further._

"_No Hinata!" Shino's yelling seemed to surprise everyone, seeing as he is rarely heard raising his voice. "We're sorry but there's nothing we can do for him now!"_

"_He's right Hinata! Let's move!" Her two teammates started taking her out of the perimeter when she suddenly yelled something else._

"_Wait! Look!" Kiba and Shino stopped and looked back to where she pointed. Sasuke also looked and his face instantly matched the shocked looks on the three teammates._

"_Sakura!" Even Sasuke yelled her name, but stopped surprised in himself. __'Wait, why would I care? I left everything from my time in team 7 in Konoha! My memories… my feelings… I let go of all of it for vengeance.'__ Then, something struck him. __'Itachi's dead… and even Madara… so what do I do now? I've achieved my only life goal, and have nothing else to live for. But why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?' __He looked intently at Sakura, as if watching her would give him his answer._

_She looked frightened beyond belief. She was profusely sweating from the heat wave and her body trembled uncontrollably. __'What is she doing?' thought Sasuke. 'If she stays there she could be-'_

"_N-Naruto!" yelled Sakura with as much might as she could muster. She was trying to keep herself composed but was failing miserably as her voice wavered when she spoke. "I know you can control this Naruto! You have too strong a will to let this monster take your soul!" Naruto paused for a moment, the chakra still surging all over his body. For a second it seemed as if Sakura's words got to him, but then he turned to face the cherry blossom and everyone's eyes widened._

_She was staring directly into Kyuubi's face. Not only had the chakra formed an outline of the bijuu around Naruto's body, but also formed the shape of Kyuubi's face!_

_The kitsune grinned maniacally at her and spoke with a beastly voice. __"Sorry little girl. Naruto is no longer of this world." __Sakura gasped and Kyuubi laughed hard, sending a small shockwave around the area and knocking the kunoichi back._

'_What is she doing?!'__ Sasuke watched as the bijuu's tails pointed in front of its open mouth and a glowing sphere started to form. At first the Uchiha thought this was the same technique Naruto used against him at the Valley of the End, but quickly realized it wasn't in the least bit the same._

_Also, he noticed Kyuubi aiming straight at Sakura._

"_Die!"_

'_No!'_

_He didn't know how he did it. He didn't know it was possible for him to do so. Sasuke had just finished his battle with Uchiha Madara before he came here to watch the Konoha ninja battle Pein, so he was completely drained of chakra and injured all over. So how could he have done it? Sasuke would never know._

_Kaboooom!_

_Kyuubi fired an enormous blast of concentrated chakra, absolutely destroying everything in its path. Nothing was left ahead of the bijuu but smoke and he started happily laughing, thoroughly amused with the raw power he held._

"… _akura… Sakura…" The cherry blossom's hearing slowly came back, having almost been deafened by the blast. "Sakura! Are you okay?" She suddenly realized someone's arm wrapped around her and holding the kunoichi close to their body. Her Eyes popped open and looked at her savior, finding none other than…_

"_Sasuke-kun!"_

_The Uchiha loosened his grip and spoke to her. "Are you okay Sakura?" he asked, never taking his eyes off Kyuubi._

"_Wha… oh… y-yea, I think so."_

"_Good."_

_Now Kyuubi noticed the two of them behind him and faced the ninja. __"Ah, the Uchiha boy."__ Sasuke stepped between the bijuu and kunoichi intent on protecting Sakura._

"_Stay back Sakura. I promise I'll protect you with my life. No matter what."_

"_Sasuke-kun…" Then Sakura notice his back bleeding profusely from where the blast caught him. "Sasuke-kun you're hurt!"_

"_Don't worry about me." Kyuubi started laughing._

"_Poor little Uchiha boy. Just because I said your chakra is more sinister than my own does not mean you are stronger than I!"_

"_Tch." Sasuke glared at the monster. He held his left hand out a little and tried to pump chakra into it. The sound of chirping birds filled the air as he activated Chidori, but it quickly fizzled out. __'Shit! Not enough chakra!'_

"_Hah! You'd never stand a chance of fighting me! The great Yondaime didn't even try to because he knew I was unbeatable!"_

_Sasuke closed his eyes to think for a moment._

"_With Yondaime and Yamato dead, there's no one who can stop me from turning this land into a living hell!"_

"_You're right," interrupted Sasuke, "I don't stand a chance fighting you."_

_Kyuubi laughed amused. __"So you finally see that it's hopeless?"_

"_But," he interrupted again, "you're wrong about something else. You're not undefeatable."_

_Kyuubi stared at the Uchiha. __"Elaborate."_

"_Yondaime knew he couldn't defeat you, in battle, so he found another way. A way that didn't involve him having to fight you."_

_"Your point?"_

_Sasuke smirked. "All I have to do is force Naruto's conscience out and you'll lose your control over him"_

_The bijuu laughed again. __"You fool! Uzumaki Naruto is dead! No amount of effort you make can bring back a dead man!"_

_Sasuke closed his eyes calmly and took three deep breaths. Then they shot open, his Sharingan flaring. "You're lying." Kyuubi didn't say anything. "I realize now, I never really severed my ties with Naruto, with any of my… my friends. They've just been hidden from me as I believed my only purpose was to kill my brother." Sakura watched him, tears starting to fill in her eyes. Not tears of sorrow or despair like when she thought they lost him forever, but tears of joy and happiness knowing he never truly left._

_Oh Sasuke-kun…"_

_Naruto is still in there. I can sense him. That dobe is just sleeping at the worst time possible, and my purpose is to wake him up!"_

_Kyuubi glared at Sasuke. __"Okay. So he still is alive. But when my final tail grows back, I will devour his soul and become even more powerful than ever!"__ He roared and a seventh tail slowly started forming. But with the formation of this tail, the others became longer and his body grew more than twice its size. __"And what makes you think you have the skills to force me back into that weakling?!"_

_Sasuke closed his eyes and smirked. "Baka."_

"_I don't need all of my tails to kill you, Uchiha!"__ Kyuubi charged at Sasuke._

_Sakura started to feel the fear from before, but when she looked up at Sasuke's calm face, her body relaxed. __'He promised he'd protect me.'__ The cherry blossom grasped her hands together and held them close to her chest. __'I trust you Sasuke-kun.'_

"_Did you forget? You said my chakra was more sinister than yours, just like Uchiha Madara. He was the only person in the world who could command Kyuubi no Youko, and since I killed him, that means…"_

_Kyuubi wasn't listening as he approached Sasuke ready to obliterate him._

"_Die Uchiha!"_

_Immediately, Sasuke's eyes snapped open and shot forward a full blast of murderous intent, instantly dispelling the enormous mass of chakra in a large explosion directed away from Sasuke and Sakura. Nothing but a large smoke cloud was left of the kitsune._

"… _I have become strong enough to command you."_

_From the smoke they could see a figure moving around. It slowly got closer and Naruto emerged from it, falling over. Sasuke reached with his left arm and caught him._

_Naruto opened his eyes and chuckled. "Heh, what took so long, teme?"_

"_Hmph, dobe."_

"_Naruto!" exclaimed Sakura, relieved her comrade was fine. "Thank goodness you're all right."_

"_Hey Sakura-chan," he replied waving weakly, "are you okay?"_

_She nodded her head. "Yea, I'm fine."_

"_Good." Naruto and Sakura were too busy feeling happy to have everyone re-united that only Sasuke heard the voice in the distance._

"_Katon: Nenshouken."_

_Reacting quickly, Sasuke pushed Naruto and Sakura away and something stabbed his left shoulder._

"_Aaagh!" Almost immediately, the object stuck in his shoulder started burning like hell._

"_Sasuke!"_

"_Sasuke-kun!"_

_The Uchiha fell on his knees unable to take the intense heat searing his skin. Sakura saw a long red blade and noticed how it quickly burned Sasuke's arm. She quickly concentrated her chakra to her hands. __'This jutsu is meant to burn flesh so the longer it stays in, the more damage is done to the body when taking it out!'__ She placed a hand where it stuck out of the skin and the other on the red blade, wincing in pain and quickly pulling it out with all her might. Ignoring the burn on her hand, Sakura applied her medical jutsu on Sasuke's open wound to stop him from bleeding to death._

_She pulled it out in time because the second it hit the ground, it instantly cooled. __'This would have been worse if I let that cool in his shoulder!'_

_Clap, Clap, Clap_

"_Excellent Sasuke."_

_Naruto and Sakura raised their heads to the voice trying to find the intruder. But upon hearing the voice a second time, Sasuke knew whom it belonged to. Knew it, but couldn't believe it._

"_What? How… how is it possible?" A figure stepped out of the trees still clapping. "How can you still be-"_

"_Alive?" Naruto and Sakura looked at the intruder, unknowing of who it was._

"_Sasuke-kun," started Sakura, "who is this guy?"_

_Naruto was about to ask the same thing, but upon closer inspection of the man, he saw something in his eyes he never thought he'd see anymore in someone other than Sasuke._

"_Sharingan?" Naruto looked from the man, to Sasuke, and the man again. "No. H-He couldn't be a… I thought you and Itachi-"_

"_He is." Naruto looked at him shocked. "This man, his name is… Uchiha Madara."_

"_What?!" exclaimed the other two at the same time._

"_How is it possible," asked Sasuke, "I just killed you!"_

_Madara chuckled. "Simple. I had Pein create a body double of me. One to test the extent of your abilities."_

"_What the hell do you mean?"_

"_Well," started the other Uchiha, "I suppose now that all the events are set, I can tell you everything. I'll start from the beginning; fifteen years ago." The three ninja watched him nervously. "It all started with that fool of a Sannin Orochimaru. So desperate was he to get the Sharingan that he used Kuchiyosei Edo Tensei to resurrect me. Who better to get the Sharingan from than the most legendary of the Uchiha clan? But, he was arrogant. He brought me back forgetting who exactly I was, the strongest of all Uchiha, and the one who discovered the Mangekyou Sharingan. Well of course, he failed miserably to take my body. So after I left, I decided to have a little fun. I summoned Kyuubi to help me destroy Konoha, and eventually rule the world."_

_He took a pause before continuing. "Unfortunately, it seems being brought back from the dead had taken away my ability to control the bijuu and… well, you know what happened."_

'_He's the reason Kyuubi attacked the village fifteen years ago! Iruka-sensei's parents were killed, Yondaime died saving the village, and Kyuubi was sealed in me, all because of him!'__ Naruto clenched his fists._

"_Yes, after that I realized if I ever wanted to be as strong as I use to be, I would have to pick someone from my clan who had the potential to command a bijuu, so I waited. Though, I didn't have to wait long before someone with incredible talent emerged. Your big brother Itachi. He had it all; talent, skills, intelligence, and above all, mastery of the Sharingan at such a young age. He was perfect._

"_But, there was a problem. Even if I showed him how to achieve the Mangekyou Sharingan, what would stop him from suffering the drawbacks of the next level of the Sharingan; blindness? But my question was quickly answered as I remembered how I stopped myself from going blind. My brother's eyes. So when the time came, I showed him how to gain its great power and helped him eliminate the entire clan, not before telling him of the aftereffects of Mangekyou though. So inevitably, he spared your life in hopes of saving his later on._

"_After that day though, I started to re-think things. Itachi could have become strong enough for me to take his abilities, but who's to say someone who devotes their life to hating another couldn't become a better candidate? So I kept my eye on you as well, Sasuke. And I have to say; I was quite impressed with your growth. And not only was one of my candidates somewhere easy to observe, but the very Jinchuuriki that held Kyuubi was close by! Lucky me." He chuckled but Sasuke and Naruto glared at him. "Also, ever since I joined the Akatsuki, I grew less impressed with Itachi and more so with you. Now all the pieces were in place. All I had to do was sit back and watch._

"_Sometime later, the brothers finally meet again. The final showdown. Whoever emerged the victor was worthy enough to be my prize. And, as I expected, the younger brother was victorious. I knew you'd win because of those hate filled eyes, which is why I had a body double made. When the time came, you had to prove your worth and eliminate my fake. As if my plan couldn't have gone anymore perfect, I set it up so you would be completely exhausted and watch as Pein sacrificed himself to bring Kyuubi out stronger than before. Your final test: with Jiraya, Yamato, and Kakashi gone, you had to prove your worth by achieving the power to control the most terrifying of all bijuu._

"_And now, here we are. Years of planning, all for this one moment. Sasuke… Naruto… both of your powers are mine!" The earth began to shake and the sky turned dark. Sasuke and Naruto stood up, but almost fell back down because of their lack of energy. "With the both of you exhausted, there's no one who can stop me!"_

"_We would beg to differ!" Then something large landed between the three and Madara. They looked up and saw a giant two-headed dog. "Don't worry," spoke one of the heads in Kiba's voice, "we'll take care of it from here! Ready Akamaru?" The other head barked and the giant dog jumped and started rapidly spinning. "Soutourou: Garouga Kujiku!"_

"_Foolish ninja." Madara simply raised his hand and caught the full force of Kiba's attack. The Konoha ninja's continued to spin in his palm, seemingly un-phasing him. _

"_Chou Baika no Jutsu!" Behind the Uchiha, Chouji's body grew enormously huge and he was charging at Madara._

"_I'm not so easy to fool!" He easily redirected Kiba's attack and threw him into Chouji's direction._

"_No!" yelled Kiba. "Chouji! Look out!" He slowed down his attack, but couldn't prevent himself from colliding with Chouji and the two crashed to the ground in a heap of destruction._

_Madara grinned. "You weaklings can't ever hope to-"_

"_Hakke: Nishou!" Someone caught him off guard and struck him twice on the chest. "Yonshou!"_

"_Who-" Four more strikes came and he looked down. Hinata was moving at a speed none of the other Konoha ninja have seen in her before._

"_Hachishou!" Madara had to react fast. "Jyuuroku-" He kicked her in the stomach, halting the attack, and sent her flying with a hard punch._

"_Hinata!" yelled Naruto suddenly finding himself extremely worried about the kunoichi._

"_Fine! If you're in such a hurry to die, then I'll kill you first!" He pointed at her, but for some reason, couldn't form his jutsu. "What?" He felt a stinging pain on his arms and saw a large bug biting him with other smaller ones surrounding it. He was going to throw them off, but found he couldn't move his arms… or his legs… or his whole body for that matter. "What the hell?!"_

_A distance behind him stood Shino, Shikamaru, and Ino._

"_The large bugs inject a toxin that paralyzes the limbs while the smaller beetles will make it harder to use jutsu by absorbing his chakra," spoke Shino._

"_My Shinbunrishin no Jutsu targets the part of the brain that control movements and deactivates them," said Ino smiling_

"_With all of us blocking chakra and paralyzing his body-"_

"_YOU THINK THIS CAN HOLD ME?!" Madara's body started shaking as he tried to force himself to move._

"_Crap!" Shikamaru weaved a few more hand signs and poured more chakra into his jutsu, making his shadow split into different sections, rise off the ground, and wrap all over the Uchiha's body. Him and Ino winced, struggling to hold their jutsu. "Just hold on Ino! All we have to do is keep him from moving." He then looked over at Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. "Naruto! Sasuke! Hurry up and finish this guy off! We can only hold him off for so long!"_

_Naruto nodded his head. "Right! Thanks Shikamaru._

"_Just shut up and do it already!"_

_Naruto looked to Sasuke. "You still have some fight left in you?"_

_The Uchiha looked at him for a moment, then slightly smiled. "Yea… I still have something up my sleeve."_

"_Good!" Here we go!" He formed a hand sign. "Kagebunshin no Jutsu!" Two clones appeared behind Naruto and started manipulating chakra in the original's hand. Sasuke watched in amazement as one formed a swirling sphere and the other applied a different type of chakra. As soon as the second type was added, a high-pitched whirling noise filled the air and a four-pronged shape spun around it and grew larger until it looked like a giant shuriken._

_Sasuke smirked at Naruto. "Well, I have to say, I'm impressed Naruto." Then the curse mark spread across his body and transformed into his second state. Feeling an increase of chakra again, Sasuke focused it into his left hand and a chirping noise could be heard, which was soon replaced by a flapping noise as the lighting emitting from his palm turned black. With that, he reversed the flow of chakra from the curse mark and his body morphed again. His skin turned its normal color, his hair turned white, and the large hand-like wings jutting out of his back grew feathers on the webbings, also matching the new color of his hair._

_Now it was Naruto's turn to be amazed at what he saw. "Sasuke… is that really…"_

"_Not even Orochimaru knew the Cursed Seal of Heaven was capable of a third form." Now the sound of flapping was replaced by a different, louder noise; that of lightning striking and birds screeching. The formerly black electricity turned pure white and increased in capacity._

"_Sasuke-kun…" The Uchiha turned and looked at Sakura. She gasped, but from surprise rather than fear. She had heard that people looked like monsters in the second state of the curse mark, but in this new form, Sasuke didn't. He looked more like… an angel._

_Sasuke seemed to sense what she was thinking. "Sakura… I promise I'll never let you see me as a monster… ever."_

_She smiled and nodded her head. "Hai."_

_Sasuke and Naruto faced their enemy with determined eyes. "Ready Naruto?"_

"_Yea! Let's finish this once and for all!"_

_The two ninja started their run at Madara, Naruto on the left and Sasuke on the right. Their individual techniques glowed brighter as their jutsu remained mere centimeters away from each other._

_Even though the other Uchiha couldn't move, he started laughing out loud at the approaching ninja. "Hah! Did you forget?!" His eyes transformed into the three-pointed Mangekyou Sharingan. "I can still use the most powerful fire jutsu with a simple look!" His eyes widened and the black flames of Amaterasu appeared shooting straight at his opponents._

"_Naruto!"_

"_Hai!"_

_The two pushed their jutsu together just as the flames converged them from every direction._

"_Sasuke-kun! Naruto!" Sakura's heart sank watching the fires consume her closest friends. The crackling flames continued to burn in a large mass where Sasuke and Naruto were seen last. __'N-No! They can't be gone'__ She paused for a moment watching the scene scared, but gathered her resolve. __'Yes. They're still alive, I know it.'_

_At that thought, a large, violet sphere emerged from the dark fire and moved toward Madara._

"_What?" The color of the sphere started fading and Sasuke and Naruto were now visible inside, the clashing of their jutsu together in the center._

"_Okay Ino, let's clear the way!" Shikamaru and Ino cancelled their jutsu and quickly jumped away. Madara felt his body being freed from the others' techniques but had no time to react, seeing as the second he was free, he too was encased in the now black sphere with Naruto and Sasuke. He watched in shock as the two ninja's jutsu seemed to slowly reach him._

"_Fuuton: Rasenshuriken!"_

"_Kamigami no Chidori!"_

_On impact, Madara's body glowed brighter and brighter until it dispelled the black sphere and a blinding white light filled the whole area, forcing everyone in the vicinity to shut their eyes tightly._

_Booooom!_

_An explosion rattled everyone's ears. They noticed the light fading and opened their eyes. A smoke cloud in a large crater was all that was left. Sakura frantically ran up to it, the other Konoha ninja following suit, and stood waiting for the smoke to clear._

_To Sakura, it seemed to take many long, agonizing hours. "Sasuke-kun… Naruto… please be okay."_

_Finally, it dissipated. Naruto and Sasuke stood in the middle of the crater, Naruto grinning and Sasuke smirking victoriously. Naruto gave everyone a thumbs up. "We're number 1, dattebayo!"_

"_Whoo hoo!" yelled Kiba._

"_You guys rock!" exclaimed Chouji._

"_Excellent," said Shino._

"_Great job you two!" smiled Hinata._

"_Go Sasuke-kun! Go Naruto!" cheered Ino._

"_I suppose it was pretty cool," smirked Shikamaru._

_Sakura let out a relieved sigh and smiled down at her two friends. __'Thank goodness you two are all right.'__ Her attention drew to Sasuke. __'Thank you for coming back Sasuke-kun. You saved us all.'_

_An intense pain shot throughout Sasuke's body and he fell over in agony._

"_Sasuke?!"_

"_Sasuke-kun!" Sakura slid down into the crater next to an alarmed Naruto and knelt down next to him. What she saw horrified her._

_Sasuke's back was drenched in blood from his previous injuries. She promptly turned him on his side and saw more blood pouring out of the hole in his shoulder. __'Oh no! The curse mark must have made his wounds worse!' __"Naruto, hold him on his side! I have to stop the bleeding!_

"_A-Alright."_

_She hastily prepared her medical jutsu. "Please hold on Sasuke-kun! Don't die on me, please don't die on me!"_

_Sasuke's eyes slowly opened. The pain was so intense that he couldn't move and started to black out. The last thing he saw before his vision completely faded was Sakura's frantic, yet for some reason beautiful face. Then it hit him. __'Sakura… I remember. My other life goal. I… need someone… someone to help restore my clan…' _

_And he lost consciousness._

**Present Day (10 years later)**

Sasuke lazily opened his eyes. The house was dark and he heard nothing. He was still tired from last night. Or was it this morning? At the moment, he didn't care. Not a second after his eyes shut again had someone lightly shook him and spoke with a soft voice.

"Time to get up." Sasuke groaned.

"Ten more minutes…" The person shook him again.

"Come on, it's morning."

"Five minutes…" He heard a sigh and footsteps walking away from him. _'Yes… just five more minutes of sleep…'_ Then a bright light filled the room making Sasuke squint from its shining through his eyelids. "What the hell?" He tried to sound angry, but was too tired and sounded more groggy than anything. Slowly, he opened his eyes, getting use to the sunlight emitting from the open curtains.

When his eyes adjusted, he saw someone with long pink hair smiling over him.

"Rise and shine, my Sasuke-kun."

**Author's Note**: Whoo! That took forever! Well, there it is, my first fanfic ever posted, _ever_. I have the next part all written up, but it might be a couple weeks before I type it all. Please review, and please don't be too harsh!


	2. Chapter 1

**Love and War**

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. Not me.

**Chapter 1**

"Rise and shine, my Sasuke-kun." Sakura smiled happily to her husband.

"Sakura, you know I'm still tired from last night's mission. The least you could do is give me five more minutes."

She waved a finger at him. "That's the price you pay for falling asleep on the couch instead of with your lonely wife."

"Well, I knew you'd be tired from taking care of Mikoto and Takashi all day, so I didn't want to wake you."

"Aww, you're so sweet." She bent over and kissed him on the cheek. "Now get your cute little butt up so I can make breakfast." She turned and was about to walk away when a hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her so she fell onto Sasuke's body with a short 'eep!'

His arms snaked around her waist (pun not intended) and held her into place while he lightly kissed her neck, making Sakura draw in a breath.

"I said," spoke Sasuke with a husky, sensual voice, "just five minutes, my Sakura-chan."

Sakura shivered. He always gave her goose bumps whenever he called her 'my Sakura-chan' in that deep, masculine voice and could practically get her to do anything when he used it.

"Yes… five minutes…" She happily rested her head on his chest, relaxing into his warm embrace. They could feel each other's heartbeats from the closeness of their bodies. He inhaled her wonderful scent with every breath. That amazing scent that was all her own and never changed no matter what type of shampoo she used.

Whenever the couple did this, just laying there, enjoying the others company, nothing else in the world mattered. They could spend and eternity in each other's embrace, feeling the warmth of their bodies… the feint beating of their hearts… the soft sounds of their breathing…

But maybe later; Sakura still had to fix breakfast for her family.

She leaned up and gave Sasuke a short, chaste kiss on his lips, whispering, "Aishiteru, Sasuke-kun." Then she quickly got up and walked out of his reach before he could pull her down again.

"Wake Mikoto and Takashi for me, would you?"

"Hn." He stayed on the couch for another minute, and then decided he should get up before his wife came back and yelled at him for not moving.

Sasuke walked upstairs, taking in the magnificent scent of Sakura's cooking, and into his children's room. Mikoto was already awake, yet looked to be as tired as her father. Takashi, on the other hand, was still sound asleep in his bed.

"Morning papa…" said Mikoto while rubbing the sleep from her emerald eyes.

"Morning Koto-chan." He gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Were you two good for mama while papa was away?" Mikoto nodded her head and gave Sasuke a smile that even he had to admit was too adorable for words. Even though she and her brother were twins and looked exactly alike, save for the length of their hair, Mikoto was the oldest of the two by 8 minutes. She was very cheerful, outgoing, and wasn't afraid of showing her love for her family.

Sasuke walked over to Takashi and lightly shook him until he woke up. "Hey Kashi-kun, it's time to get up. Mama is making breakfast right now."

"Nnnn… okay…" The younger twin took his time getting out of bed. Unlike his sister, Takashi was shyer and didn't speak much around people, excluding family and close friends. And like his father, he wasn't a morning person.

Picking up and holding his son in one arm while holding his daughter's hand in his, Sasuke took the twins downstairs to the kitchen where his wife had breakfast ready and waiting.

The Uchiha family sat at the table they regularly ate breakfast and Mikoto started chatting away about this and that. Any new news going on in Konoha never misses her ears. Just how she is able to find out about everything Sasuke still doesn't know. But even though she was only four years old, he was still proud of her. Proud of both of them. The twins are so young, yet they are already showing signs of the much famed 'genius trait' found among the Uchiha clan.

They both shared some of their parents' talents. Mikoto seemed to take after her father, showing she truly had Uchiha blood flowing through her veins. She had excellent aim while playing with her toy shuriken and could see and copy some of her father's taijutsu whenever she watched him practice. Sasuke believed she would be the first of the two to obtain the Sharingan.

Takashi on the other hand took after his mother. He could already read and write and was very smart for his age. He even shocked his parents one day when he walked up the side of the house to get one of Mikoto's toy shuriken stuck on the roof. Every time Sasuke remembered that day, he doubted whether Mikoto really would obtain the Sharingan first.

Sasuke quickly finished his breakfast, which usually consisted of two onigiri and a cup of milk, and excused himself from the table. He was too tired to put his equipment away when he came home last night, so he had to take care of that.

He grabbed his shuriken pouch, noticing how much lighter it felt from when he left for the mission yesterday. _'I'll need to get more sometime today.'_Kunai; check. Senbon; need more of those too. Scrolls, paper bombs, and other essentials; check.

He then reached for his sword and stopped. Sasuke had never though about it before, but this chokuto was the only thing Orochimaru gave him that he actually kept for all the years after he killed the Sannin. Aside from the curse mark and summoning seals, but he couldn't just throw those away. Sasuke picked up the chokuto and studied it, pondering.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura put a hand on his shoulder, sensing her husband's anxiety. "Is something wrong?"

Sasuke sighed. "Every time I look at this sword, I'm reminded of every terrible thing I've done to those closest to me. Leaving the village, even though you begged me not to. Trying to kill Naruto to obtain more power. And I almost did so again with this very blade. At that time, I felt nothing of it. As if killing him wasn't that big a deal." He paused for a moment and Sakura didn't say anything. "What do you think Sakura? Should I just throw this away?"

Again, there was a long pause. Sasuke would wait as long as he needed to hear her answer.

Then Sakura reached and touched the chokuto, lightly dragging her fingertips along its length. When her fingers reached his, she clasped her hand over his.

"I think you need to stop living in the past." Sasuke looked at his wife surprised at her unexpected answer. "What happened, happened. It doesn't matter to me what you've done back then, nor does it to Naruto, or anyone else in the village. We've already forgiven you Sasuke-kun. Have you forgiven yourself?" He wasn't sure what to say.

"But… how can you… how can anyone just forget what I'redone to obtain power for a selfish cause? And you still haven't answered my ques-" Sasuke was quickly cut off with a kiss from Sakura. He was caught off guard by the sudden action, but relaxed and accepted her inviting warm lips. It was a simple kiss, nothing more.

After a full ten seconds, Sakura broke her lips away and looked into Sasuke's dark eyes with her emerald ones. "Oh just shut up Sasuke-kun." He stared at his beautiful wife. "Just forgive and forget." He took a few more seconds to consider it, and smiled one of his rare smiles only his family has ever seen.

"Hai."

Sakura brought her attention back to the chokuto in his hand. "As for this sword, I think you should keep it. I'm sure after ten years this thing has saved more lives than taken." She grabbed the sword out of his hand, inspected it a little, and tossed it to the couch. "Also," she said looking seductively into his eyes, "I think it makes you look like a bad ass."

Sasuke smirked. "You mean even more of a bad ass than I already am?"

"Oh yea." Sasuke wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her body closer.

"Does it turn you on, my Sakura-chan?"

That same shiver ran down her spine again. "M-Maybe." He smirked again. He loved how much an affect he could have on her with just simple words. Sasuke brought his head down and lightly brushed his lips against hers. Sakura leaned forward to try and capture his lips, but he backed away to tease her. She groaned, pressing her body into him, and Sasuke gave in. Their lips crashed together initiating a heated kiss.

Their lack of time together from Sasuke being gone all day yesterday sparked a passion they haven't felt for what seemed like months. Neither of them had to worry about their kids walking in on their make-out session. As gifted as the twins were, they couldn't conceal their presence from their parents.

Nothing could stop this heat of the moment.

"Ahem."

The two lovers instantly pulled away and looked at the intruder.

Shino stood in the doorway with an eyebrow raised. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

It was then that Sakura realized one of Sasuke's hands firmly grabbing her ass with both of hers tangled in his hair. She jumped out of Sasuke's grasp and blushed a deep red. "Sh-Shino… what-"

"Don't you ever knock?" snapped Sasuke in a very irritated voice. He hated it when people interrupted his alone time with Sakura.

"I did. Three times in fact. But apparently some people were a little too preoccupied to notice." Sasuke glared at the Aburame, but gave it up knowing it would have no affect on him. Shino was the only person who could sneak up on the great Uchiha Sasuke, a fact he always found a little creepy.

"Well what do you want?" he asked with no intention of trying to hide his annoyance.

Shino cleared his throat before he spoke. "Sorry to have interrupted your play time," Sakura's blush deepened, "but Hokage-sama has requested your presence in an urgent meeting, Sasuke" Sasuke cocked his eyebrows questionably.

"A meeting? For what?"

"I'm not at liberty to speak of it. Just come to Hokage-sama's office right away."

"Hai."

Shino's body dissipated in a cloud of bugs. Sakura squeaked in fear and jumped behind Sasuke as the swarm flew out the door.

Sasuke let out an annoyed sigh. "That baka is showing off again." Sakura looked at him slightly confused.

"What do you mean? That's how Shino always is."

"I'm not talking about Shino. I'm talking about that dobe Rokudaime. Sending someone to deliver a message... everyone knows he can just use a Kagebunshin."

"On come on Sasuke-kun, let him have his fun."

"He's been Hokage for a year now! You'd think he would at least grow up a little." He grabbed his black jacket and slipped it on over his Jounin vest. Sakura adjusted his collar and zipped the vest up all the way.

"Just try not to hurt him too bad, okay?"

"Hn." They walked to the open door and Sakura gave him a quick kiss before he headed out into the village.

Sasuke moved through a few trees before he emerged from the forest and the large village of Konohagakure came into sight. When he and Sakura got married six years ago, they built their home on the outskirts of the village. One would think that the last surviving Uchiha would want to live close to his old childhood home, but upon second thought, that wouldn't be a good idea. The abandoned Uchiha residence was a place Sasuke rarely went. Now that Itachi was dead, the hate and desire for revenge he felt every time he went there was completely gone. That place only brought him pain and misery now.

Sasuke only went there once a year to remind himself of the tragedy that befell what was once his whole world. The first time he re-visited his home after 3 years away from Konoha, he destroyed all records of the Mangekyou Sharingan's existence. He didn't want future Uchiha generations to suffer the same hell he did.

And every year after he married Sakura, she would go with him. Evenafter Mikoto and Takashi were born, they would bring the twins along. Sasuke wanted his children to know what happened to their ancestors in order to prevent history from repeating itself. Though, they were a little too young to hear all the facts yet. Maybe he would tell them when they finally become ninja.

Sasuke jumped from rooftop to rooftop, slightly wishing they had built their home a little closer to the Hokage tower.

"Yo Sasuke!" To his left he saw Kiba and Akamaru join him. "You get called for that urgent meeting too?"

Sasuke nodded his head. "You have any idea what it's about?"

"Not sure. I'm guessing it has to do with the conflict between Konoha and Amegakure."

"Probably."

Ever since Pein was killed, the Land of Rain's economy slowly fell apart. The people of the country entrusted their fates into the Rinnegan user. But a couple years ago someone stepped up and lead Ame no Kuni back to prosperity. Even though Konoha heard about its new leader, they failed to gather any intelligence on who this mystery man was.

As if that didn't make Konoha nervous enough, just recently Amegakure accused the Leaf Village of unjustly murdering their former leader. To atone for their 'acts of crime', the Rain Village demanded Konoha give up the man who killed Pein; Naruto. Konoha refused many times, creating major tension between the two, and now people talked about a possible war breaking out soon.

"If it is about the conflict," spoke Sasuke, "it can't exactly be good news."

Kiba nodded his head and the three of them neared Hokage Tower.

**10 Years Ago**

_It was a dark, rainy day. To many, it would have seemed cliche, but no one could deny the feeling of gloom in the whole village._

_Sasuke walked down the road dressed all in black. Even though he'd been gone for three years, the Uchiha still remembered his way around the village like the back of his hand._

_Two Anbu walked with him, one on either side. Tsunade had appointed them to watch Sasuke while he stayed in Konoha. After all, he was still considered a rogue ninja. Sasuke understood her reasoning and didn't say anything about it, but this did not make Naurto happy in the least. He argued with the Sannin for hours against it. He eventually was forced to give up as she told him the decision was made by the village elders and there was nothing she could do to change their minds._

_When Sasuke looked up, he saw Naruto and Sakura at the doors to the tower, waiting for him._

_Naruto took one look at the Anbu, and Sasuke could see his face growing frustrated._

_Not too long after Sasuke met with his former teammates had Tsunade walked out and addressed the two Anbu. "That will be all for now. Wait here until afterwards."_

_"Hai, Hokage-sama."_

_She nodded to the teens and they silently followed her. When they reached the top, they saw many people dressed in black, all facing one way. A lot of the faces Sasuke hadn't seen in a long time. Iruka, Lee, Neji, Tenten, Morino Ibiki, Kusaragi Anko, and even people from Sunagakure such as Temari and Gaara._

_Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, and Tsunade took their place in the front, along with everyone else who had a close association in the recent events with the Akatsuki._

_Everybody was silent.No one didn't even greet the four of them.The only noise heard was the rain pouring over the dreary scene._

_At the front most part of the tower stood five coffins with pictures on them. They belonged to Jiraya, Kakashi, Gai, Yamato, and Kankuro._

_Sasuke's attention drew first to Kankuro and Yamato's coffin.He heard about what happened to them.Naruto, Sakura, Yamato, Neji, and Lee, accompanied by Gaara and his siblings, managed to find the giant statue the Akatsuki had been using to seal the bijuu in. He didn't know all the details, but he heard they somehow destroyed it. As a result, all eight bijuu that were sealed inside emerged, freed from their prison. Though, they anticipated this could happen and brought with them eight special objects they would seal the bijuu in. The shinobi chased after the bijuu and while Yamato used his ability to suppress the demons, another would form the sealing jutsu and seal it in one of the artifacts._

_With four of them sealed, the ninja got ready to seal Yonbi, but it destroyed its artifact and they had to seal it inside the mountain they were on.As soon as it was sealed, Shukaku came out of nowhere and attacked Gaara.Kankuro reacted fast, making Karasu grab Gaara, and used Kawarimi no Jutsu to switch places with his brother and puppet._

_Kankuro was instantly killed._

_Yamato turned his attentionand was about to use his ability to hold off Shukaku, but Gaara told him to save his energy and take care of the remaining demons. With Shukaku's artifact destroyed when the Ichibi attacked, Gaara performed the sealing jutsu, using himself as the host._

_Seeing Kankuro killed proved too much for Naruto to handle. The Nibi Nekomata tried to sneak up on Naruto, but he had quickly transformed into the four-tailed state and killed the demon cat._

_Now only one bijuu remained, Hachibi.But this one proved to be the strongest among the freed bijuu. It not only had eight tails, but eight heads as well! Its unrelenting attacks made it impossible for anyone to get close to it, let alone attempt to perform a Fuuin no Jutsu._

_Then Naruto appeared, with five tails already, and had and intense battle with Hachibi.The eight headed serpent put up a good fight, but when a sixth tail appeared, Naruto managed to kill the bijuu._

_Unfortunately, as soon as the battle was over, everyone saw two more tails beginning to form at the same time. Yamato acted quickly and activated his demon suppression technique and used it on Naruto, then had a sudden enormous increase of chakra. Lee knew exactly where Yamato was getting this chakra. He had unlocked Shimon: the Gate of Death._

_Yamato was successful in restoring Naruto back to normal, but immediately died afterwards._

_Now Sasuke's attention went to Jiraya and Gai's coffin. He heard what happened to them too. The Sannin was killed by Pein, but not before managing to send information on his encounter back to Konoha. Gai also died by Pein's hands. Gai would have probably won if he opened Shimon, but Pein wouldn't allow it and killed the Jounin before he could do so, which is what set Naruto off into the five tailed state and allowed him to kill the Akatsuki leader._

_And last, Sasuke looked to Kakashi's coffin. The Uchiha was the only person still alive who had seen his former sensei's death. Kakashi came out of nowhere and tried to help Sasuke during his fight with Uchiha Madara, or rather, the fake Madara. The fake killed Kakashi and, for some reason, watching this filled Sasuke with rage and gave him the strength to defeat the other Uchiha._

_The rain continued to fall on the gloomy scene. Sasuke looked around, spotting many people trying not to shed tears for the fallen shinobi. Lee looked to be having an especially hard time holding back his tears for his mentor. Even Gaara seemed to be grieving over the loss of his older brother._

_Sasuke heard sobbing next to him and looked. It was coming from Sakura, whom had her eyes shut tight and tears threatening to spoll over. He felt a tug at his heart seeing Sakura like this. It was an unfamiliar feeling to him._

_What was this sensation? And why did watching Sakura close to tears make him feel like this._

_He wasn't given much time to ponder it becouse people soon started leaving. Everyone left one by one until only Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura were left. The three of them didn't want to leave just yet. Just a few more minutes of reminiscence._

_Finally, Naruto put his hands on Sasuke and Sakura's shoulders, nodded, and motioned for them to go._

_They reached the bottom and saw Tsunade at the gate to the tower. She watched the three teens approached her and stopped them. "Naruto. Sakura." They looked at the Godaime. "You two can take the rest of the week off... if you want."_

_Naruto shut his eyes for a second, then opened them and politely declined her offer. Sakura, on the other hand, merely nodded her head and walked away heading home._

_Sasuke watched as she went. She was hugging her abdomen tightly, her body shook, her head tilted downward slightly, and he could tell she was still trying to hold her tears in._

_Without another thought, the two Anbu from before appeared and one pulled on Sasuke's arm. "Come on. Let's go."_

_At this point, Naruto just about had enough. "Tsunade!" Everyone stopped and looked at the Jinchuuriki. His hands balled into fists, teeth clenched, and eyes glaring at the Sannin. He didn't need to say anymore; the Sannin knew why he looked so pissed off._

_Tsunade took Naruto's glare head on with unchanging eyes, and sighed._

_One of the Anbu pulled on Sasuke's arm again. "Come on Uchiha-"_

_"Hold on." The two Anbu stopped._

_"Yes Hokage-sama?"_

_"Let Sasuke walk by himself today."_

_"What? B-But Hokage-sama..."_

_"Don't worry about it," she said looking sternly at the two ninja. "He will go back in his holding cell. Right Sasuke?" Sasuke looked at her slightly surprised, but nodded his head._

_"Hai, Hokage-sama." The Anbu jumped out of sight and Tsunade left to go gack to her office._

_Naruto's anger abated and he turned to Sasuke. The Uchiha was looking down the path Sakura was headed with an unusual look in his eyes. Naruto may not have been the smartest of the former rookie 9, but now he figured out something not even Sasuke could._

_He put a hand on his shoulder. "Teme."_

_Sasuke looked at Naruto._

_"Walk Sakura home."_

_Sasuke was slightly confused. "Me? Why not you?"_

_Naruto smacked the back of the Uchiha's head. Normally Sasuke would have hit him back at least twice as hard, but he just stood there baffled at the blonde's action._

_"Don't you get it Sasuke-bastard?" Naruto paused and gave his friend his trademark kitsune-like smile. "Comfort her. Tell her everything will be all right. After all," Naruto walked past Sasuke, "your the only one who can make her feel better." The Uchiha watched Naruto as he ran off muttering something about Hinata._

_Sasuke spotted the cherry blossom ahead. She was walking slowly, still hugging her sides. That same twinge pulling at his heart returned, but he tried to push it aside long enough to get his legs moving again._

_With the stealth achievable only by a ninja of his calibur, though not really meaning to, Sasuke silently sneaked up on the girl._

_"Sakura."_

_Sakura jumped and turned around startled. She relaxed when she saw who it was. "Sasuke-kun. Did you want something?" He heard the staggering in her voice and saw the red in her green orbs from crying._

_He opened his mouth, then closed it unsure of what exactly to say. Making up his mind, Sasuke half forced the words out of him. "W-Would it be okay if... I walk you home?" Sakura was surprised. Half because of his unusual offer and half because he, Uchiha Sasuke, actually stuttered._

_Still taken aback by his question, she nodded. "Sure."_

_The two continued on their path to her home in silence. A light rain continued to fall from the sky as Sasuke tried to evaluate the meaning behind what Naruto said to him. 'I'm the only one who can make her feel better? What is that suppose to mean? And why me?'_

_He looked out of the corner of his eyes at the girl walking next to him. Her face still looked sad, but he couldn't tell whether the water droplets on her face were from crying or the rain. And the rain may not have been cold, but he could see the cherry blossom shivering a little. He wished he had an umbrella now. He would offer her shade from the offending rain. She would be dry so she wouldn't look as sad as she felt. The umbrella's size would leave them no choice but to get closer to each other..._

_Wait, what was he thinking? Why were these thoughts suddenly popping up in his mind? No, the real question: why did he recently find himself caring for her well being? Such feelings had never been invoked whenever she was near before he left the village. Not even during their brief 'reunion' at Orochimaru's lair._

_Could this have anything to do with what Naruto said? Did that dobe know something he didn't? Naruto's words echoed in his mind._

_'Don't you get it?'_

_Get what?_

_'Tell her everything will be all right.'_

_Why?_

_'Comfort her.'_

_Why?_

_'Your the only one who can make her feel better.'_

_Why?!_

_"Sasuke-kun?"_

_He pulled his mind back to reality at her voice and realized they had reached her home._

_She looked up at the raven haired ninja. "Arigatou, Sasuke-kun." He could still sense a hint of strain in her voice. "I'm glad you came back." She smiled, but Sasuke wasn't fooled by this. He knew it was a forced smile. She was trying to hide her emotions from him._

_"Sakura..."_

_"I guess... I'll see you later then." She turned and reached for the doorknob._

_No, he didn't want her to leave just yet._

_"Wait Sakura!" Sasuke grabbed her arm and pulled the pink haired girl away from the door, making her body run into his. Both of them seemed to be equally shocked by his sudden action._

_"S-Sasuke-kun? What..." Sasuke's heartbeat hastened with the closeness of their bodies. Not knowing what else to do, he wrapped and arm around her shoulders and pulled her body to his._

_"Sakura, don't try to fool me." Her eyes widened. Sasuke was surprising her more and more since he returned. "But... don't cry. I promise... from now on, everything will get better. So... onegai, don't cry."_

_At first Sakura didn't know how to react. She could hear the quick beating of his heart, and relaxed her head against his chest allowing him to hold her._

_"Hai. Arigatou, Sasuke."_

**Present Day**

_Knock Knock Knock_

Sasuke waited in front of the door to the Hokage's office with Kiba and Akamaru. He stood impatiently tapping his foot. They could hear movement from within the room.

Then the door opened and Naruto's smiling face appeared.

"What's up Sas-"

Sasuke smashed his fist into Naruto's face. The blow sent Naruto flying back, then he dissappeared in a cloud of smoke. A shadow clone.

"Hahahaha!"

Sasuke looked and saw Naruto, the real Naruto, sitting at a desk pointing at Sasuke and laughing. "See guys? I told you he would do that!"

**Author's note: **There's the first chapter for you! I know it was lacking in the action, and there's not going to be much in the next one either, but I promise there will be more later. Hmm... what else is there to say? Oh, I probably won't have chapter 2 done for _at least_ a couple weeks, but please keep reading!


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